1 B ut also there arose false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among yourselves, who will subtly and stealthily introduce heretical doctrines (destructive heresies), even denying and disowning the Master Who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

2 A nd many will follow their immoral ways and lascivious doings; because of them the true Way will be maligned and defamed.

Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;

3 A nd in their covetousness (lust, greed) they will exploit you with false (cunning) arguments. From of old the sentence for them has not been idle; their destruction (eternal misery) has not been asleep.

and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

4 F or God did not spare angels that sinned, but cast them into hell, delivering them to be kept there in pits of gloom till the judgment and their doom.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;

5 A nd He spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven other persons, when He brought a flood upon the world of ungodly.

and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

6 A nd He condemned to ruin and extinction the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes set them forth as an example to those who would be ungodly;

and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter;

7 A nd He rescued righteous Lot, greatly worn out and distressed by the wanton ways of the ungodly and lawless—

and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men

8 F or that just man, living among them, tortured his righteous soul every day with what he saw and heard of unlawful and wicked deeds—

(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),

9 N ow if the Lord knows how to rescue the godly out of temptations and trials, and how to keep the ungodly under chastisement until the day of judgment and doom,

then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

10 A nd particularly those who walk after the flesh and indulge in the lust of polluting passion and scorn and despise authority. Presumptuous daring! They scoff at and revile dignitaries (glorious ones) without trembling,

and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties,

11 W hereas angels, though superior in might and power, do not bring a defaming charge against them before the Lord.

whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.

12 B ut these! Like unreasoning beasts, mere creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed, railing at things of which they are ignorant, they shall utterly perish in their corruption,

But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,

13 B eing destined to receive the reward of unrighteousness. They count it a delight to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions and carousing together as they feast with you.

suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you,

14 T hey have eyes full of harlotry, insatiable for sin. They beguile and bait and lure away unstable souls. Their hearts are trained in covetousness (lust, greed), children of a curse '> exposed to cursing]!

having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;

15 F orsaking the straight road they have gone astray; they have followed the way of Balaam of Beor, who loved the reward of wickedness.

forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

16 B ut he was rebuked for his own transgression when a dumb beast of burden spoke with human voice and checked the prophet’s madness.

but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.

17 T hese are springs without water and mists driven along before a tempest, for whom is reserved forever the gloom of darkness.

These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.

18 F or uttering loud boasts of folly, they beguile and lure with lustful desires of the flesh those who are barely escaping from them who are wrongdoers.

For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,

19 T hey promise them liberty, when they themselves are the slaves of depravity and defilement—for by whatever anyone is made inferior or worse or is overcome, to that he is enslaved.

promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

20 F or if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again become entangled in them and are overcome, their last condition is worse than the first.

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

21 F or never to have obtained a knowledge of the way of righteousness would have been better for them than, having obtained, to turn back from the holy commandment which was delivered to them.

For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.

22 T here has befallen them the thing spoken of in the true proverb, The dog turns back to his own vomit, and, The sow is washed only to wallow again in the mire.

It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “ A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”